★★★★★
Johannes Vermeer has a talent to die for . . . and quite literally so, as far as Marcel Proust was concerned. He had one his characters breathe his last and expire in front of this 17th-century Dutch master’s exquisitely understated View of Delft. So, if you are a fan — and since Vermeer was rescued from two centuries of posthumous neglect, he has consistently starred in art history’s “all-time favourites” lists — then prepare for a once in a lifetime experience.
Never before have so many works by this master been brought together. Of the 37 paintings widely accepted (although arguments persist) to be autograph pieces, 28 of them — all among the most highly revered possessions of the museums that have
